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Friday, December 10, 2010

Dodgers Announce 2011 Minor League Coaching Staff

Just in. Press Release from the Dodgers:

The Los Angeles Dodgers today announced their 2011 Minor League coaching staff with former Dodgers Matt Herges and Jody Reed returning to the organization as coaches.

Bruce Hines returns for a second season as Field Coordinator after the Dodgers were named Topps’ Organization of the Year in his first season with the club. Charlie Hough, who served as the pitching coach at Single-A Inland Empire for the last four seasons, and Gene Clines, who was the Dodgers’ minor league hitting coordinator for the past three seasons, will join P.J. Carey as Senior Advisors, Player Development.

Minor League Pitching Coordinator Rafael Chaves and Outfield/Baserunning Coordinator Rodney McCray will return for their third and fourth seasons, respectively, in their current positions and Eric Owens will replace Clines as the organization’s hitting coordinator. Owens spent the past five seasons as a coach in the Angels’ minor league system as a roving outfield, baserunning and bunting coordinator (2009-10), Double-A Arkansas hitting coach (2008) and Single-A Cedar Rapids hitting coach (2006-07) after a nine-year Major League career.

Infield Coordinator Matt Martin and Catching Coordinator Travis Barbary will both enter their fifth seasons in their respective positions with the Dodger organization. Henry Cruz will return as Campo Las Palmas Director and Antonio Bautista will again serve as the Dodgers’ Field Coordinator at Campo Las Palmas.

Lorenzo Bundy will enter his second stint as the manager of the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate after compiling a 141-146 record as the manager of Triple-A Las Vegas from 2007-08. Bundy managed the Rookie-level Arizona League Dodgers to a 30-25 (.545) mark in 2010 and will be joined in Albuquerque by Pitching Coach Glenn Dishman, who served on Bundy’s staff with the AZL Dodgers last year in his sixth season with the organization. John Valentin will enter his fourth season with the Dodger organization and serve as Albuquerque’s hitting coach after one season in the same position with Double-A Chattanooga.

Carlos Subero will return for a third season with the Dodger organization and a second year as manager of Double-A Chattanooga after leading the team to a 65-74 mark last year. He will be joined in Chattanooga by two new coaches: Hitting Coach Franklin Stubbs will move up to Double-A after two seasons at Single-A Inland Empire and Chuck Crim will be the club’s new pitching coach after leading the Single-A Great Lakes pitching staff to a Midwest League-best 3.44 team ERA in 2010, which was his second year coaching and fourth overall season in the Dodger organization.

Rancho Cucamonga will debut as the Dodgers’ affiliate in the Single-A California League under Manager Juan Bustabad, who won Single-A Midwest League “Manager of the Year” honors by leading Great Lakes to a Minor League-best 90-49 record last year in his third season as the Loons’ manager and 11th year as a member of the Dodger organization. Hitting Coach Michael Boughton will also make the jump from Great Lakes after two years as the Loons’ hitting coach. Boughton’s teams have qualified for the playoffs in each of his three seasons as a hitting coach with the Dodger organization (2008 with Ogden, 2009-10 with Great Lakes). Pitching Coach Hector Berrios will join the Dodger organization after 13 years of coaching in the Blue Jays’ (1998-2002) and Mets’ (2003-10) minor league systems, serving as the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Mets pitching coach in 2010. Berrios spent part of the 1992 season in the Dodgers’ system, going 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA in 15 games for Triple-A Albuquerque, and went 31-25 with a 3.90 ERA in eight minor league seasons.

John Shoemaker will manage Single-A Great Lakes in 2011 for his 19th season as a minor league manager and his 35th season in the Dodger organization as a player, coach, manager or coordinator, after two seasons as the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch – Glendale Coordinator of Instruction. Hitting Coach Lenny Harris will join the Loons’ coaching staff after serving the previous two seasons as the Camelback Ranch hitting coordinator and Pitching Coach Kremlin Martinez will move up from Rookie-advanced Ogden after one season working with the Raptors’ pitching staff.

Damon Berryhill will return for a third season as manager for Rookie-advanced Ogden after leading the club to its second-straight playoff berth and a franchise-record 44 wins in 2010. Johnny Washington returns for a third season as hitting coach after the Raptors posted a Pioneer League-best .298 team batting average in 2010. Pitching Coach Bill Simas will begin his coaching career after compiling an 18-19 record and a 3.83 ERA in 308 games over six Major League seasons with the White Sox from 1995-2000. Simas spent the 2003 season in the Dodgers’ minor league system, going a combined 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA in 27 games (four starts) with Triple-A Las Vegas and the Rookie-level GCL Dodgers.

Jody Reed will replace Shoemaker as Camelback Ranch – Glendale Coordinator of Instruction and will also manage the Rookie-level AZL Dodgers after four seasons coaching in the Yankees’ minor league system. He served as the Yankees’ minor league defensive coordinator for the past two seasons after managing their Rookie-level club in the Gulf Coast League from 2007-08, where he earned league “Manager of the Year” honors by leading the team to the GCL title in 2007. The 48-year-old Reed played one season with the Dodgers in 1993 and posted a .986 fielding percentage as an infielder during his 11-year Major League career. Leo Garcia will return for a third season as the club’s hitting coach and Pitching Coach Matt Herges will begin his coaching career with the same organization that signed him as an amateur free agent in 1992. The right-hander made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 1999 and compiled a 20-13 record with a 3.38 ERA in 151 games (four starts) during his three seasons with the club. Herges pitched for eight teams during his 11 seasons in the Majors, going 43-35 with a 3.91 ERA in 567 games (four starts).

Pedro Mega returns for his fifth season as manager of the Dominican Summer League Dodgers with Esteban Lopez as the hitting coach and Alejandro Pena returning as the pitching coach. Ramon Martinez will return for a second season as a roving guest instructor for the Dominican Summer League Dodgers after compiling a 123-77 record in 11 seasons as a pitcher with Los Angeles. The 42-year-old Martinez ranks seventh on the club’s all-time wins list and is sixth on the Dodger all-time strikeout list with 1,312. Jose D. Hernandez will be the catching coach for the DSL Dodgers and Rafael Ozuna will return as an assistant coach.

After spending the previous three seasons as the pitching coach for Triple-A Albuquerque, Jim Slaton will replace the retired George Culver as the Dodgers’ pitching coach at Camelback Ranch – Glendale. Specifically, Slaton will be responsible for overseeing the pitchers in Arizona, Ogden and the Dominican Republic. Daisuke Yamashita will return for a third season with the Dodger organization as a coach at Camelback Ranch and first as the club’s Exchange Program Instructor.